A double electrode arrangement with a gas discharge-tight cross-connection of the electrode chambers in already known for gas discharge tubes operated on D.C., in which the cross-connection is in the form of an annular gap between a cylindrical tube and a cylinder inserted into the tube and closed at at least one end. This ensures that the two electrode chambers are connected by a channel of sufficiently small cross section so that no electrical gas discharge can occur in this channel, but a flow of metal vapor or gas molecules can occur through this channel as a result of a pressure differential and/or diffusion.
In this manner, the improverishment of the anode area, for example with respect to mercury ions, so-called cataphoresis which is disadvantageous for the production of light, can be prevented in D.C. operation (German Offenlegungesschrift 2,254,709).
To produce a cataphoresis-free operating, D.C. operated gas discharge lamp, it is also known to form the cross-connection between the electrode chambers, which are at the electrical ignition and operating D.C. voltage, by a capillary which passes through a partition preferably made of glass, with the electrodes being brought close on both sides to within a short distance in order to avoid discharge-free zones in the vicinity of the capillary (German Offenlegungsschrift 2,319,401).
For D.C. operation of gas discharge lamps from an A.C. source, a circuit is known in which a power supply circuit in the form of a voltage multiplier circuit composed of rectifier diodes and capacitors and low-power ignition circuit supplying a high voltage are combined to form a voltage multiplier circuit consisting of a plurality of voltage-doubling stages connected in series (German Patent 1,639,108).
Finally, a device is known for powering gas discharge lamps from an A.C. line with a rectifier in the form of a voltage multiplier circuit with a ballast traversed by the lamp current, wherein the iron core of the ballast is provided with an internal cavity in which the components of the rectifier assembly are installed (German Patent 2,133,669).